Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States (2010) / Chapter Skim
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3 Taste and Flavor Roles of Sodium in Foods: A Unique Challenge to Reducing Sodium Intake
3 Taste and Flavor Roles of Sodium in Foods: A Unique Challenge to Reducing Sodium Intake
Pages 67-90
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From page 67... ...
Consideration of what is known about the effects of salt on food and flavor perception and why people like foods with added salt can help to inform efforts to lower salt consumption. Further, knowledge of how salt is detected by sensory receptors may aid in developing salt substitutes or enhancers that could contribute to an overall reduction of salt in the food supply.
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From page 68... ...
In an estimate of early usage, the average daily sodium intake in certain parts of China in 300 B.C. was reported to be nearly 3,000 mg/d for women and 5,000 mg/d for men (Adshead, 1992)
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From page 69... ...
These taste receptor cells are innervated by branches of the seventh, ninth, and tenth cranial nerves that synapse first in the brainstem prior to sending messages to other parts of the brain (Breslin and Spector, 2008)
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From page 70... ...
The food supply contains a vast array of commercially successful products and ingredients -- fresh, prepared, and manufactured -- whose sodium levels range from very high to moderate to very low. The fact that the same individual, for example, might be fully satisfied with two snacks of widely varying sodium levels -- one a fresh apple and the other a handful of salted pretzels -- reminds us how dependent the sodium taste issue is on wider flavor contexts.
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From page 71... ...
Sodium chloride, the prototypical salt taste molecule, imparts an almost pure salt taste, whereas potassium chloride, often used in lowered-sodium formulations, tastes both salty and bitter (this bitterness is one reason it is often not fully successful in replacing the sensory effects of salt)
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From page 72... ...
help to explain why it is relatively easy in some instances to substantially reduce salt in foods without reducing perceived pleasantness. SALT FLAVOR EFFECTS Salt imparts more than just a salt taste to overall food flavor.
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From page 73... ...
One understood mechanism by which sodium-containing compounds may improve overall flavor is by the suppression of bitter tastes. Various sodium-containing ingredients have been known to reduce the bitterness of certain compounds found in foods, including quinine hydrochloride, caffeine, magnesium sulfate, and potassium chloride (Breslin and Beauchamp, 1995)
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From page 74... ...
. Consequently, in reducing salt in the food supply, it may often be necessary to identify ways to replace the flavor-modifying effects of salt.
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From page 75... ...
. The body of evidence supporting sodium channel receptors as salt taste receptors is based largely on animal models, primarily rodents.
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From page 76... ...
This channel is quite specific to sodium, which may explain why few compounds are purely salty. Once sodium is inside the taste receptor cell it causes a cascade of biochemical reactions that result in the release of neurotransmitters that signal salt taste to the brain.
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From page 77... ...
Humans generally consume far more salt than is actually necessary and continue to enjoy salty foods even when physiological needs are met. Thus, it appears that salt preference rather than a true physiological need drives salt intake in human populations.
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From page 78... ...
Since there is very little evidence that adult salt depletion has comparable long-term effects on salt liking (Beauchamp et al., 1990; Leshem, 2009) , one may speculate that variation in salt exposure during a critical period of maturation permanently alters peripheral or central structures or both and is thereby particularly potent in establishing childhood and perhaps even adult patterns of sodium intake.
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From page 79... ...
during this crucial period influence later liking. MAINTAINING FOOD ACCEPTABILITY WHILE REDUCING SODIUM IN FOODS In light of the considerable role that salt taste plays in food choice, it is necessary that sodium intake reduction focus on approaches that rely on modification or manipulation of salt taste along with the search for salt substitutes.
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From page 80... ...
For example, it is not known whether it is nec essary to reduce total sodium intake to obtain sensory accommodation or whether it would occur if salt were reduced in a single product category, such as soup or bread. That is, would the consumer begin to prefer lower sodium soup or bread if his or her overall sodium intake was not reduced at the same time?
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From page 81... ...
In this regard, it might have been expected that the elimination of added salt in virtually all commercially prepared baby food, which occurred more than 30 years ago (Barness et al., 1981) , would have reduced salt preference in children.
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From page 82... ...
, sodium intake from clinically prepared foods decreased from an average of 3,100 mg/d to an average of 1,600 mg/d over a 13-week period, and participants were permitted unlimited use of a salt shaker to salt their food to taste. Importantly, less than 20 percent of the overall sodium removed during food preparation was replaced by increased use of table salt -- the use of which was measured without participants' knowledge (Beauchamp et al., 1987)
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From page 83... ...
The gray shaded area represents the total sodium consumed in food. The black shaded area represents the amount of sodium added by the participants from their ad libitum use of salt shakers.
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From page 84... ...
Some studies have shown that it is possible to maintain food palatability with a lowered overall sodium level in a food when MSG is substituted for some of the salt (Ball et al., 2002; Roininen et al., 1996; Yamaguchi, 1987)
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From page 85... ...
Adequate substitutes and enhancers for many uses do not yet exist, but one way to attempt to identify such molecules is to use the salt taste receptor to assay for such effects. Unfortunately, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying salt taste perception are not fully understood, and this represents a major gap in both our understanding and our ability to efficiently search for salt substitutes and enhancers.
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From page 86... ...
Potassium chloride has been proposed as a salt substitute either alone or in combination with table salt. However, in addition to tasting salty, many people find potassium chloride bitter (Beauchamp and Stein, 2008)
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From page 87... ...
Presented at the Institute of Medicine Committee on Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake's Public Information-Gathering Workshop, March 30, Washington, DC. Bertino, M., G
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From page 88... ...
The effect of dietary sodium reduction and potassium chloride supplementation on sodium chloride taste perceptions in mild hyper tensives. University of Minnesota.
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From page 89... ...
1996. Potassium chloride, potassium lactate and glycine as sodium chloride substitutes in fermented sausages and in dry-cured pork loin.
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From page 90... ...
2009. Can dietary sodium intake be modified by public policy?
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